All signs point to Ruby

Research can be my downfall. It’s not uncommon for me to fall into an internet blackhole looking up, well, anything. Trying to decide how to start my web dev journey may have been the deepest I’ve ever dived into that hole. After a few months of researching what technologies were used to build my favorite/essential websites and applications, the prevalence of use on the web, the educational resources available, strong community, learning curve, and a multitude of other factors, I finally settled on starting with Ruby. It ranked highest in my list. I had a goal, and a will, and…well, the way was a little harder.

Ruby and Ruby on Rails have so many resources available, it was a challenge to narrow down my self-lesson plan. In addition to pure Ruby/Rails education, I needed refresher (and some starter) courses in CSS, HTML, Javascript, and more. The college courses I’d taken to date helped lay a solid foundation, but there was a world of difference between a classroom class and an online tutorial. The teacher/student/peer interactions were dearly missed, and staying on task during more challenging lessons took considerably more discipline when there was no accountability such as assignment due dates. Eventually, I got through a number of tutorials from Codecademy, Treehouse and CodeSchool, but didn’t quite feel ready to begin my own projects. I began looking into additional resources for tutorials and courses, guided projects to get a better grasp of Ruby and Rails. OrlandoGirlGeeks is a local women-in-tech group that I started to meet others in similar fields, for support and advice. I was selected as an Opportunity Scholar, and granted the chance to attend RubyConf in 2013. My commitment was strong, and enthusiasm was high. Life intervened once again, however, and my progress had to be put on hold for several months.

Now that I’m back on the path again, I’m going to continue with books, tutorials and courses to refresh and expand my knowledge. As I move forward, I’ll post my progress here as a record of the journey, to promote accountability, and to possibly provide assistance to those on the same or similar journey.